| “ | He felt childish, paranoid in a way reserved for old detective movies. But he was sure he'd glimpsed someone following him, and even now, he felt eyes on his back. | „ |
| ~ Trevor Henderson, describing someone’s experience with the creature. |
| “ | i̵̧̢̨̪̠̱͉̠͚̜̮̞͈̞̙̽̇͛̂̌̂̇͊̇̈́̐̀̍̈́̉̾̅͜͝ͅ'̴̢̥̼͍̟̞̲̰͓̠̙̽̄̇̄̎̌̒͐̓̒͘͝v̷̲̦͍̾̑͝e̷̛̬͓̠̣̣̗̜̖̝̐͗͐̾̈́̈́̀̐̏͛͆̚͝ gô̴͉͂́̅̽͂̿̈̈̏͊́̉͋̕͘͠t̶̢̛͚̼̞̙̮̣͖̳͕̓̎́͗̌͜ţ̵̻͕̰̞̋͑͗ą̵̳̠̩̞͍͇̻̯̖̗̬̜͐ cr̴̨̧͔̥̪͓̤̳̥̽͛̿̽͌̈́̀̈́̿̐̔̀́̌͝͝ā̶͉̮͉̯̰̪̗̜c̴̏ķ̷̧̢̨̛̯̪̍̃̃̄̓̇ Th̵̨̡͖̙̾̉̋̈́͂̌́̾͆͊͗̒̄ė̴͗͛̀͆͑̕ CAs̸̢̨̛̠̻̘̭̱̲͖̲͈̠͚̓̊̒̊̍͘̕͠e | „ |
| ~ The Old Detective |
The Old Detective is a unique Cryptid created by Canadian horror artist Trevor Henderson. His strange behavior and abilities lend him to be one of the more unique creatures in the Mythos. Instead of attack people outright, he preys upon mentally vulnerable people by projecting intense anxiety and paranoia, reflecting his own timid and anxious behavior. These emotions will likely lead the victim to perform harmful acts to themselves, which is how it kills.
Appearance
The Old Detective depicts a tall, slender humanoid creature, seen standing ominously under a deep red light in what appears to be a parking lot of a movie theater during early night time. The creature is standing with a strange pose, being firm but not stiff.
The torso of the creature is disproportionately long, but have limbs that are normal sized in comparison to a human's. It is also "wearing" an "outfit" consisting of a baggy, featureless trench coat, long white socks, black shoes, and a small fedora, which gives it the intentional appearance of a stereotypical detective. However, upon close inspection, we can actually see that this "outfit" is actually just the creature's flesh, stretching out to form a macabre imitation of human clothes. Through the skin, we also see many long, black veins running along its body.
The creature's arms are long and wobbly, lacking any sort of proper bones as joints, giving them a free range of motion to bend in whatever which way. Just below the creature's "sleeves" are grotesque-looking hands which only possess three digits, a middle finger, a ring finger, and a small thumb. These hands are fleshy, and end in short claws. The creature is also slightly bowlegged, with its short legs bending slightly inward as they come down from the Cryptid's saggy belly, which mimic the bottom of the trench coat. Much like the arms, the legs also lack any bones and are free to wobble around, although a bit stiffer.
The head of the creature is disproportionately small compared to the rest of its grotesque body, and notably lacks a mouth, a nose, hair, or any ears. Instead, it only possesses two small, empty eye holes, making a void of darkness. Due to the lighting of the image, it is very hard to tell what color the creature’s skin are, although they are most likely also red.
Trevor has also stated that it moves similarly to an inflatable tube man and perhaps have similar physics to Cartoon Cat, moving about with little regard for gravity.
Behavior and Origins
According to Trevor's caption, the creature may be a shy creature that hides from people. The caption also states that he feels childish and paranoid, like a child watching an old detective movie, and is nervous if people are staring at him. It is unknown if the caption is directed towards the creature or a person being stalked by it.
Trevor has also stated that The Old Detective is the physical embodiment of paranoia, meaning that it may be paranoid and childishly afraid itself, and is inflicting this feeling onto others by stalking them. These emotions could be extremely intense to the point of mentally destroying it’s victims, leading to self-harm or physical ailments, which could be how it kills.
When replying to a comment on the original Tweet, Trevor said “I’ve gotta crack The CAse“ in glitchy text, seemingly quoting the detective, suggesting it may have the ability to speak human language, albeit with it’s voice distorted.
Experiment Theory
This theory posits that The Old Detective may actually be a former human that was mutated or transformed in some way to it’s current appearance. The theory suggests that the person that became the creature was a subject of a psychological experiment involving people’s emotions, specifically the ones that The Old Detective exhibits and inflicts. The scientists may have been trying to push the limits of the human brain by exposing an emotionally weak mind to a situation that would induce severe anxiety and paranoia, like an intense detective movie. This overexposure to intense emotions may have activated something in the brain that allowed the person to transform and mutate beyond recognition, and being able to inflict it’s experience onto others.
Supernatural Theory
A more likely theory for it’s origins is that it is a supernatural entity that is taking on a human-like form. It could have been created due the overwhelming paranoia and anxiety felt in humans, manifesting into a single being embodying this emotion. It would have been made to spread this feeling to as many people as it can, while at the same time experiencing it. It could also be a demonic entity or a shapeshifter that feeds off of or take delight out of it’s victims’ fear and paranoia. This is further backed up by the fact that it has a distinctly human-like appearance, which could induce some sort of uncanny valley feeling and that it deliberately stalks it’s victims, both of which allows it to induce the most amount of paranoia and anxiety in people. This suggests that it is very knowledgeable in what instills fear in humans. It may even be an entity which originates from the Void.
Trivia
- In a reply to a comment on his original post, Trevor has stated that it is meant to look like a children’s drawing of a stereotypical detective.
- In the same comment, he also stated that the concept of the creature would be “very scary” to him.
- When replying to a comment from a suspended account, Trevor humorously replied that he realized that he “just drew the spooky Inspector Gadget”.
- He also said that this didn’t occur to him at the time of drawing the creature.
Gallery
Sources
(Most of the information about the creature can be seen in Trevor’s replies and comments in the post)
 |
|---|
The name for this creature, The Old Detective, is not  |
